Kansas

State News

Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer (R) signed into law legislation to create the state's "Joint Legislative Transportation Vision Task Force" to evaluate the current system’s condition and funding of the state’s transportation system. The task force will make recommendations on...

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal (R) signed into law on May 3 legislation to permit metro Atlanta to form a board and ask for voter approval of a local sales tax to fund transit expansion, and allotted $100 million in bonds for public transit. The Missouri Senate...

New Mexico House lawmakers rejected a Senate amendment on Feb. 13 that would decrease revenue for road construction and maintenance from $60 million to $34 million, holding up the state's $6.3 billion budget plan. The budget bill is due to Gov. Susana Martinez (R) by...

By Eileen Houlihan, senior writer/editor, ARTBA A new ARTBA analysis shows how economic activity can be more than doubled by increasing state-level transportation infrastructure investment. In Kansas, an annual $264 million increase in highway and bridge investment...

The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) will delay an additional 10 road projects worth $17.45 million as a result of the state’s budget shortfall. In November the agency announced the delay of 24 other road projects (worth $32 million), and in April KDOT...

As Tennessee lawmakers prepare for discussions on increasing the state gas tax, a Dec. 1 Vanderbilt University poll has found that 67 percent of respondents would support such a hike to fund improvements to roads and bridges and ensure economic growth and public...

Throughout the county, state transportation spending from states’ own funds increased 8.8 percent in fiscal year 2015 and 6.7 percent in fiscal year 2016, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers annual ‘State Expenditure Report’ released Nov....

Facing $37 million in budget cuts, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) on July 22 released an updated plan that includes decreasing maintenance work, delaying personnel hiring, and raising transit fees. The reduction in funding, a result of a...

with Tyler Kane, Transportation Investment Advocacy Center Budget committees in New Jersey’s Senate and General Assembly on June 23 approved legislation to increase funding for the Transportation Trust Fund (TTF), sending the identical companion bills to each floor...

Moody’s downgraded Kansas’s highway revenue bonds to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’ on May 3 after state lawmakers voted to redirect $185 million in sales tax revenue intended for transportation projects to reduce the state deficit. The bond rating service also lowered the...

By Eileen Houlihan, senior writer/editor ARTBA The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) says it is delaying $553 million in road projects scheduled for fiscal years 2017 through 2019 unless existing state highway funds can cover the costs or new money is made...

There’s good news and bad news to report about the condition of America’s bridges. The good news is there were 2,574 fewer structurally deficient bridges in 2015 compared to the number in 2014. The bad news is there are still 58,500 on the structurally deficient...

The first Tiger Grant projects awarded in Kansas City—totaling $50 million—were just completed. The federal transportation funds were used to improve the bus system and a pedestrian bridge in Kansas City. The Tiger Grant was awarded to the city in order to promote...

Fee: Liquid petroleum vehicle owners can choose a special permit decal in order to pay special fuel taxes on an estimated-mileage basis, rather than paying per gallon at the pump.

*Federal funding percentages are from an ARTBA analysis of FHWA Highway Statistics data, total ten year average 2004-2013 from tables SF-1 and SF-2. The percent is the ratio of federal aid reimbursements to the state and total state capital outlays and is indicative of the importance of the federal aid program to state capital spending for highways and bridges. Does not include local capital spending. Federal highway reimbursements are primarily used for capital outlays, including construction, right of way and engineering, but are also used for debt service for GARVEE bonds.

Sponsor:

The Transportation Investment Advocacy Center (TIAC) is a key component of ARTBA’s “Transportation Makes America Work!”™ (TMAW) program and supported through voluntary contributions and sponsorships. To become a sponsor or to make a contribution, contact TIAC Director Carolyn Kramer at ckramer@artba.org or 202-289-4434. Also contact Ms. Kramer if you have questions or comments about any reports or case studies published through the TIAC.

The TIAC Education Program:

In addition to the dynamic www.transportationinvestment.org site, the TIAC program includes an annual workshop in Washington, D.C., and ongoing webinars for transportation investment advocates featuring case studies, best practices, and the latest in political and media strategies. State and local chamber of commerce executives, state legislators, state and local transportation officials, “Better Roads & Transportation” group members, industry and labor executives, and leaders of state and local chapters of national organizations who have an interest in transportation development programs are welcomed to participate.